Twitter will Show More Ads to Users with High Follower Counts

Twitter’s third-quarter earnings were not as good as expected, and the company has decided to blame it on technology that helps advertisers promote mobile apps on the platform. Possibly as a result of this situation, Twitter has decided to show more ads to users who have high-follower counts.

CNBC reported that Twitter’s “Mobile Application Promotion” (MAP) suite of products that helps advertisers promote mobile apps on the platform, including app installs, conversions, or engagements on apps, had technological issues. This is, apparently, why Twitter’s shares went down as much as 20% after the third-quarter earnings were announced.

The details about what was happening with MAP are sketchy (in my opinion). According to CNBC, Twitter said it inadvertently used information that users wanted to be private as a way of serving ads to them, including their device data.

For example, Twitter gives advertisers the opportunity to target based on the devices they’re using to access the platform. They can reach audiences based on a version of their operating system, a specific device, WiFi connectivity, mobile carrier and whether a device is new, which indicates they might be more on the hunt for new apps or services.

Before Twitter lets the advertisers get grabby with all that data, the MAP was supposed to ask the user for permission first. That’s not what actually happened, though. Twitter Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal said: “That setting wasn’t working as expected.” Twitter was using those device settings “even if people had asked us not to.”

What is Twitter going to do to fix this problem? It says it has an improved MAP in the works, but it doesn’t know when that will be ready.

CNBC reported that in recent weeks, Twitter users who have a high-follower count have been commenting that they were seeing more ads than before. Twitter admitted that, in the past, it showed fewer (or no) ads to those accounts. But now, Twitter is going to show them more ads. Perhaps those who are annoyed with ads will start using ad blockers or browsers that have ad blockers built in.